Libraries celebrate staying connected
LIBRARIES are important sources for the entire community because they represent places where knowledge is accessible to everybody, said Mandlakayise Matyumza, executive head of the Centre for the Book.
The institution will host the launch of this year’s South African Library Week (SALW), organised by the Department of Arts and Culture, National Library of South Africa and Library and Information Association of South Africa (Liasa). From March 14-21, all national libraries will celebrate the event in their own innovative way to raise awareness for the importance of reading.
Segametsi Molawa, Liasa’s president, said: “We want to uphold a reading culture in our country. We want our citizens to become independent thinkers, with a promising future ahead of them.”
Rejoice Mabudafhasi, the Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture, the main speaker at the launch on Friday, said: “As the Department of Arts and Culture, we are committed to the preservation, development and promotion of South African literature in all its forms and genres. These initiatives are augmented by the presence of library infrastructure in the communities.”
As stated by Mabudafhasi, libraries play a crucial role in democratic societies, since they made the basic human right of freedom of access to information a reality and promoted tolerance and respect among all South Africans.
Connecting individuals with each other, technologies, knowledge and other areas in the world is the idea behind the 2015 theme Connect@your library.
Technological progress has seen libraries develop constantly. They offer readers the opportunity to browse the
One can no longer say ‘I do not have money to buy books’
internet, use databases for research, benefit from online learning, create social network sites and rummage through digital libraries.
“A library offers connectivity without barriers. One cannot say: ‘I do not have money to buy books’, because libraries give you access to information, either in the form of hard copies or electronic resources,” Molawa said.
Along with libraries, it is a school’s responsibility to provide the youngest people in communities with books. Because many learning institutions struggle to offer their pupils adequate reading material, non-governmental organisations (NGO) like the Bookery help them out with putting up school libraries.
Since 2010, the Bookery has created 40 fully functional libraries in the Western Cape – containing a minimum of three books a pupil.
The NGO intends to address the dismissal levels of literacy and numeracy in public schools. Next Monday, the Heatherdale Primary School in Athlone is in line for another well-equipped library.
“This is a profound way to celebrate this (SALW). The Heatherdale school library is a special project as it brings together one of the Bookery’s most important partnerships for the future,” said the Bookery’s executive project manager, Cosmas Mabeya.